Change In The Making
by FalselyTrue
Summary: DALTONVERSE Micah's life in North Carolina after the Anderson fiasco.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Change In The Making**

**Summary: DALTONVERSE Micah's life in North Carolina.**

**A/N: So this started out as a one page essay on Micah in general. It's now over 7,000 words and is only halfway finished. *headdesk* Apparently, I can't listen to Taylor Swift OR Addison Road now. This first installment's 2,962 words, so it's not horrible. I'll try to update by next Friday.**

**And I think I fudged some facts here-I have no clue where Stanton's located, Aimee's supposed to be in Ohio, I don't even know if Micah's relatives are really named Evelyn and Thomas Saffield or if Micah has a younger sister named Sara. I hope this isn't too blasphemous.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Except for Alice. I own Alice. She's mine.**

**Cross posted here and at Livejournal, pick your poison.**

* * *

><p>"…<em>I laugh 'cause it hurts when I scream…"<em>

North Carolina wasn't so bad, Micah reflected, staring at the ceiling in his room. Aunt Evelyn was nice enough, even though she was sure Micah was just confused ("Oh, I'm sure you just haven't met a good Christian girl yet. That's why you thought you were gay, Micah! Not because you're gay, but because you just haven't met a good girl yet. You Nevadans have no sense of God whatsoever. We'll fix that, don't you worry!") and Uncle Thomas was just the same ("Micah, my boy! This whole misunderstanding will clear up in no time at all!"). His six cousins (Leah, Esther, Adam, Paul, Benny and Jacob) were all off at college or running their own lives, so it was just Micah, Uncle Thomas and Aunt Evelyn in the rambling house.

A knock sounded on his door. "Micah, sweetie? Can I come in?"

"Sure, Aunt Eve," Micah replied, sitting up.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Aunt Evelyn pushed open the door, a wicker laundry basket balanced on her hip. "How're you settling?"

"Fine, Aunt Eve."

"Mind if I sit?"

Micah shook his head no, so Aunt Evelyn sat on his bet, setting her basket at her feet. Micah noticed that it was filled with clean blue towels neatly folded with Aunt Evelyn's usual military precision.

"I'm glad you're here," she said, and pulled him into a warm hug. "Everything in Stanton is just so ridiculous. It's good that you're here. Safe. We're working on getting Sara out here too. This whole incident with the Anderson boy must be a result of their marriage problems. But you're out of there now, and Sarah should be here in a few weeks."

Micah bit his lip to keep from replying rudely to that—yes, his parents had marriage problems, namely disagreements over education and jobs, but that was normal and he hadn't fallen in love with Shane just because his parents were fighting a lot of the time. He just loved Shane—and he just nodded, resting his head on Aunt Evelyn's shoulder.

Mom hadn't hugged him like this in forever. She'd always been busy, too busy for anything more than a quick kiss on the top of the head as she dashed out the door for work. Aunt Evelyn hugged like she could fix anything with a soft embrace.

When Aunt Evelyn pulled back, she kisses him on the forehead.

"Lights out by ten-thirty, Micah. Church is tomorrow at nine, breakfast at eight. Sleep well, okay, sweetheart?"

She shuts the door behind her when she leaves, although the basket stays on the floor of his room. Micah lies back on his bed, studying the neat white paint as if it held the secret to life and the key to the universe. For all he knew, it might. It made as much sense as everything that had happened over the past two days, which was to say, none at all.

He wondered what Mom and Dad were telling Sara. She was only eight, half his age, and she hadn't been home when Mr. Anderson had threatened Micah's family. Sara had been over at her best friend's house for a sleepover, and Micah hadn't even gotten to say goodbye to his baby sister.

She was probably home by now, twenty-three hours later, probably thinking Mi-mi (the childhood nickname Sara refused to let go of) was over at Shay and Blaine's. Unless Mom and Dad had decided to explain the birds and the bees and why Micah couldn't love another boy and had messed up, Sara was going to be told a spectacular lie. He wished he knew what it was so he could call her and tell her he was alive and that Aunt Evelyn wanted her to come visit.

Sara probably didn't even know that Micah was at Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Thomas's house. Micah was still surprised he was there himself, seeing how fast everything had happened. Life was normal Thursday afternoon, Friday morning it had been the same but by Saturday morning, he had been threatened against seeing his boyfriend ever again, forcibly outed to his parents and packed across the country, all within eight hours. Freshman-sophomore summer was not turning out to be anything he'd ever expected.

He switched off his bedside lamp, not minding that it was only 9:30 (and his brain still thought it was 6:30) and not bothering to change into pajamas.

He fell asleep within ten minutes.

.

The next morning, he was awake by five, after nightmares had plagued him all night. He changed into clean clothes—what did people wear to church here anyways? He picked a button down and jeans—and quietly moved into the kitchen with his hardworn copy of Don Quixote to wait for Aunt Evelyn to get up.

The light was better in there to read, and besides, his eyes were already tired from trying to read on the plane with little sleep.

He surprised Aunt Evelyn when she got up two hours later.

"My stars, Micah! What are you doing up so early?"

Micah shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

Aunt Evelyn laughed. "Exactly the opposite problem of my boys. Wild horses couldn't drag them out of bed before ten in the morning. I'm glad they're off at college now—we can get to early service, so it's not as crowded."

The kitchen was mostly quiet for the next hour, the only sounds Micah turning a page in his book or Aunt Evelyn clinking spoons against bowls or a spatula against a frying pan. When Uncle Thomas came downstairs for breakfast, he was bleary eyed and sluggish, more the teenage morning stereotype than Micah himself.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, everyone either reading (Micah his book and Aunt Evelyn the newspaper) or attempting to wake up without the help of coffee (Uncle Thomas. Aunt Evelyn explained to Micah in a whisper that the doctor had ordered Thomas to not drink any coffee due to chronic migraines, but that Thomas had been addicted to coffee for thirty years and was having a hard time cutting back).

When they left for church, Aunt Evelyn turned into a chatterbox, talking about everyone Micah would need to meet and who would like him, what "sweethearts" might catch his eye, about everyone and everything. Uncle Thomas grunted noncommittally when Aunt Evelyn directed a question to him, sleepily steering the car.

Micah worriedly double checked his seatbelt several times after multiple near collisions with other vehicles, a cat and two inexplicably located plastic light-up Christmas reindeer (why they were placed in the middle of the freeway during July was far and beyond Micah's logic capabilities). For some reason (probably the same inexplicable logic that had Christmas decorations out in July), neither Aunt Evelyn or any of the other drivers batted an eyelash at Uncle Thomas's questionable driving abilities, although Micah was certain he was going to die by reckless driving.

"Oh, Micah! There's Brookfield High, where you'll be going when school starts up in August. And then there's the library, right next to it."

Micah watched the nearly identical brick buildings pass by through the window. Brookfield High looked like a really small school in comparison to Stanton, only big enough for a few hundred students as opposed to several thousand.

"We go to Calvary Chapel, it's the big brick church there on the other corner," Aunt Evelyn explained. Uncle Thomas screeched into a parking spot and Micah let out an inaudible sigh of relief.

As they walked up the steps, people called out greetings to Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Thomas and gave Micah a few odd looks before welcoming him with warm smiles and cordial handshakes. Aunt Evelyn led Micah through a maze of corridors and up two flights of stairs to a large back room where about fifteen teenagers were milling about.

"Evelyn!" A tall man, perhaps in his mid-thirties hurried over to greet them. He had short, spiky black hair and rectangular glasses much like Micah's own, although his were wire, not plastic. "So good to see you! Are you here just to visit, or…?"

Aunt Evelyn put an arm around Micah's shoulders. "Michael, this is my nephew, Micah. He's moving in with Thomas and me. Bad situation at home," she added in a conspiratory whisper. "Godless parents, no wonder he's got a few problems." Her voice returned to normal volume as she said, "Usually I'd ask one of my boys to show him around, but they've all moved out and left me with an empty house! Do you know if anyone would mind showing Micah around?"

Michael laughed. "Of course! Pleased to meet you, Micah. I'm Pastor Mike. Evelyn, I think Alice wouldn't mind. Hey, Alice!"

A girl with curly red hair turned and came over, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Yeah, Pastor M?"

"Alice, this is Micah. He's new and I was wondering—"

"If I'd show him around? Sure thing." To Micah, she said, "C'mon. We've got ten minutes before service. I'll introduce you to a couple'a people."

The next ten minutes passed in a blur of faces and names (Charlie, Tally, Matt, the other Matt, Monique, Jay and Annabelle were the only ones he remembered, although he met at least a dozen more people as they came in the door), but when the lights flashed once, everyone scrambled for seats, although no one sat down.

Pastor Mike stood at the front of the room on a stage-like raised platform and said a prayer, announced upcoming events (_paintball, youth group cookout, would Katie and Eric please stop bringing soda and mentos to youth group meetings, the janitors are getting pretty ticked off at the mess, thank you_) and then a sermon began.

It wasn't as bad as Micah was expecting—it wasn't all fire and brimstone, about how gays and Muslims and anyone not Christian was damned to hell—but instead a sermon about being kind to people and doing service work because they were able bodied and others weren't.

Micah agreed with about half of it. He nearly dozed off twice in the other half.

After service, Alice dragged him to meet more people or more specifically, her group of friends, which consisted of Aimee (a freckled brunette who wore a dozen necklaces and bracelets, each with an odd color combination or shape), Cameron (apparently always late for everything, as he had been sprinting through the hall, muttering "not again") and Zade (a black haired boy who wore chunky black headphones that were apparently soundproof, so communicating with him involved emphatic hand gestures and Alice finally yanking the headphones off to yell at him).

"We're generally nice people," Alice explained, carefully skirting a group of toddlers. "There's not much new around here, so you're kind of huge news. I'm pretty sure Bethy's planning to add you to her list of conquests, even though no one knew you existed until an hour ago."

"Great. Something to look forward to," Micah said sarcastically. Alice laughed, waving to a group of girls across the lobby.

"I think you're the first person to ever say that and mean it that way. Nice. I think we'll get along just fine, Micah Randall."

Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Thomas found them at the coffee table, Alice telling a story about Pastor Mike's cat and a church camping trip.

"…and then Cameron threw the pepper spray while Pastor Mike went for the curling iron, and that's why if you hear 'mind the cat', it means 'shut the door right now or else.' Your daily lesson in North Carolina vernacular brought to you by the one and only Alice Betz."

"Hey, Alice-honey," Aunt Evelyn greeted, hugging the blonde and then Micah. "Thanks for showing Micah around." Uncle Thomas was staring greedily at the coffee and Aunt Evelyn smacked his arm. "No, Thomas. You know what Doctor Hazelwood said."

Alice stifled a laugh and said, "Oh, no problem, Mrs. Saffield. I was actually going to ask if Micah wanted to come to the cookout with me this afternoon. I was going to go with Addison, but then…well, you know."

"Summer flu," Aunt Evelyn nodded. "Your mother told me. Poor boy. Of course Micah can go with you. As long as he's home for dinner."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Saffield."

"Have fun, Micah, Alice!" Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Thomas vanished into the throngs of people, leaving Micah to stare semi-wistfully at their retreating backs.

Alice handed him a thick paper cup filled with a creamy coffee blend and lifted her own. "Hope you don't mind milk and two sugars. I didn't know how you made yours, so I mixed it like mine."

"S'fine." Coffee with milk and two sugars was Shane's style, actually, and Micah preferred one sugar, no milk, but he'd drunk enough of Shane's coffee that it wasn't really a problem. Except for the twenty million or so memories, but he could (kinda) ignore those. Maybe.

"C'mon. We can talk on the steps." They wound their way through the masses of people and out the front door before settling on the steps. Alice sat crosslegged on the top step, mindless of her floral dress. Micah carefully sat next to her.

"So, spill. What got you exiled here?"

"Excuse me?"

"What'd you do? No one gets sent to a relative just because, and especially not on short notice. You obviously did something. The question is what exactly did you do?" Alice took a sip of coffee and tapped her fingers on her lip. "Hm. You don't look like the type to get a girl pregnant and you're obviously not a chain smoker bad boy, you don't seem to have anger management issues and I'm ninety five percent sure you didn't kill anyone and are on the run from the law and you don't look abused. I'm betting bad divorce and custody battle." Alice glanced at him. "Am I right?"

Micah shrugged noncommittally. "It's my business, and I really don't know you well enough." He gulped down some of his coffee and bit back a memory, the first time he'd tried Shane's overly sweet coffee concoction.

Alice laughed. "Fair enough. The cookout's at eleven, by the way. It's only ten-fifteen now. Tell me about life that's not in the middle of nowhere."

Micah cracked a grin. "I'd never really left my hometown before I came here, so I'm not much help there. I'm from a smallish town—take that with a grain of salt, Stanton's still quite a bit bigger than here—where was I? Oh, yeah, smallish town in Nevada. My school was pretty big, maybe three thousand people? I dunno, but we were five grades, eighth through twelfth. I transferred into Stanton High at the end of eighth grade, so I missed out on the class trip to Washington DC. Everyone says the Library of Congress was great, though."

The redhead laughed. "You're a reader, then. You'll get along great with Cassie, she loves it when people read to her."

"Cassie?"

"Cameron's twin sister. She's blind, so she likes it when people read to her."

They chatted for an hour, sharing little information about school and themselves.

The youth group cookout was just a big barbeque, Micah found out. No one sat around sharing bible verses—instead, they played volleyball and bickered over movie choices and someone set up an iPod and speakers. Alice kept a running commentary on who was whom and who to avoid. A buxom blonde girl kept running her eyes over him hungrily, which made him more than a little uncomfortable.

Alice drove him home after the cookout, explaining that most teenagers in Brookfield learned to drive by fourteen but actually got their permits at fifteen and official licenses a month after turning sixteen. He must have looked worried about her driving abilities because Alice showed him her license before starting the car.

Aunt Evelyn waved to Alice as she drove off and welcomed Micah into the house.

"Dinner's in an hour, Micah," she informed him. "And the twins are coming home for dinner, too."

"Benny and Jacob?"

"Mm-hm."

"They're always late though, so don't hold your breath," Uncle Thomas called from the kitchen. "Eve, are you sure I can't have any pie just yet?"

"I swear, he's worse than any of the boys," Aunt Evelyn told Micah with a smile. "Thomas, touch that pie and you don't get ice cream with everyone else!" she called, hurrying into the kitchen.

Micah took the stairs two at a time and crashed on his bed, only kicking off his shoes. He closed his eyes, promising it was just for an hour, or until Benny and Jacob got there, whichever came first.

He was sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

**...**

**R&R?**

**(it picks up next chapter, I promise. :D)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I couldn't resist. Second chapter, just to get everything started.**

.

Micah woke up and immediately began panicking because the sun was very much not setting—it was in the middle of the sky. He scrambled out of bed and showered quickly, changing into a clean t-shirt and shorts. This particular shirt had been one Shane had liked to "borrow" and it still smelled a little like the shorter boy. Attempting to ignore that, Micah descended the stairs into the kitchen.

Aunt Evelyn was mixing something in a white ceramic bowl, humming to herself as Micah settled at the table.

"Oh, good, you're up!" She hugged him briefly and pointed to a plate of muffins with her free hand. "Alice dropped by yesterday, but you were sound asleep. The Rapture could've come and you would've slept right through!" She swiped the bottom of the bowl with her white handled spatula. "Not that I'm surprised, you've been through so much the past few days, but still! You slept a good forty-two hours, my dear. You must be starving. Eat, sweetheart."

While Micah ate a blueberry muffin, Aunt Evelyn chattered on about Alice and everything Alice had ever done for the town, from missions trips, community outreaches and an art show.

"I think she likes you, Micah! And she's such a darling—oh, there's the door." Aunt Evelyn opened the kitchen door to reveal Alice.

"Hi, Mrs. Saffield! Oh, hey, Micah! You're alive! Anyway, a couple of us were heading down to the River and we were wondering if Micah wanted to come with."

Aunt Evelyn beamed. "Sounds wonderful! Of course Micah would love to go!"

In quick succession, Micah was sent upstairs to retrieve a bathing suit and sent back to change into it, had a towel thrown at him and then shooed out the door. Dazedly, he got into the passenger seat of Alice's yellow jeep, grateful that he'd managed to sneak Don Quixote into his bag alongside the towel.

Alice glanced over. "Relax, hotshot. Cameron, Aimee, Cassie and Zade are coming."

"Not what I was worried about."

"The River's not that scary."

"_Also_ not what I was worried about."

"My driving's not that bad!"

"Mmhm. Keep telling yourself that."

The River turned out to be a bridge crossing a deep, slow stretch of water that was apparently a popular swimming spot, considering the amount of cars parked nearby. Eerily, there were only three teenagers in sight, despite the number of minivans and pickup trucks. When Alice parked, the trio of teenagers waved and called out greetings.

Alice clambered out of the truck and hugged the two girls before introducing Micah. "Micah, you remember Aimee and Cameron. _This_ is Cassie, Cameron's twin sister."

"Nice to meet you," Cassie said softly. She was short, skinny and blonde, with large black sunglasses hiding most of her face. "I'd shake your hand, but I can't quite see."

"Right, you're blind. You could pass for normal."

"Thanks. You have a nice voice, by the way," Cassie said. "It's not as screechy as Alice's."

"Hey!" Alice protested indignantly. "I'm not that bad!"

Cassie winced exaggeratedly. "Oh, my poor sensitive ears!"

They were still laughing when Zade arrived, dropped off by a woman in a navy blue minivan.

"Oh, geez. You know you're late when Cameron arrives before you," he said jokingly, pulling off his headphones and putting them in his bag.

"He beat me and city boy, too," Alice explained. "Cass and Aimee must've got here on time."

"I just realized—none of you have accents," Micah said suddenly, realizing what had been bothering him since he'd met the eclectic group.

"Nah, no one does around her—unless they're trying," Aimee explained. Her voice took on the soft vowels and extended drawl of the southern accent. "Most a' the adults talk southern, but a'cause a TV, none'a us youngin's do." Her voice returned to the sharper, clearer speech of the northwestern states. "But I don't normally talk like that. None of us do. I learned to speak with _this_ accent when I go up to visit my dad in Ohio. The first couple of times, I didn't know any better, but now I do."

"It's impossible to get any respect unless we sound northern," Alice explained, dropping her sunglasses over her eyes. "People just assume we're backwater hicks, never mind if we've got 4.0 GPAs or scored valedictorianships."

Cameron and Zade nodded in agreement, while Cassie snorted. "Ya'll still talk a bit North Carolinanan. I'm proud'a my accent. But yeah, I do speak like a northerner a lot of the time. I'm already blind, nerdy and blonde. Adding a southern accent just makes the teasing worse."

The group had begun walking while Aimee was talking and were now on a red gravel path leading down to the crowded shore of the river. As they wound their way past families picnicking and kids playing, Aimee began a story about the antics of her friend Dwight, a Catholic boy who attended a boarding school in Ohio and hunted demons on the historic campus.

"I don't blame him, they're everywhere, ghosts, demons, who-knows-what-else," Aimee finished, fingers wrapping around one of her amulets. "But seriously though, fifteen cases of salt—which is like twenty five pounds each, so like three hundred pounds of salt—is way excessive."

"When's Dwight coming to visit, again?" Cameron asked, dodging a large tree branch.

Aimee snorted. "He isn't, God willing. I love the great lump, but he'd go nuts at the old buildings around here. Ohio's bad enough for him, I'm not bringing him back east. There's not enough salt in the world for him to get him to visit this town, anyway. And besides, he still thinks I live in Ohio with my dad."

"Which you do, but only on every other weekend and partial holiday breaks because he's often out quote-unquote hunting demons." Zade added primly, clambering up a large rock and jumping off, arms spread wide.

"He really is!" Aimee protested. "I swear, ya'll're going to get eaten by demons, and when you do, I'll be laughing because ya'll didn't listen to me."

"Whatever, Aims," said Alice, rolling her eyes. "Hey, we're here!"

Zade swept aside a large branch, revealing a secluded spot.

"Welcome to Gover's Grotto, the only place in Brookfield where there's any kind of peace and quiet. Although, ya'll are gonna ruin the quiet real quick. Don't ask about the name, it's a long story," Cassie said, breaking her brother's grip on her arm. She carefully maneuvered her way to a flat spot, where she spread out her towel and sat neatly. Everyone else (except for Micah) quickly shed shirts and shorts and crashed into the water with loud whoops of joy. Micah settled onto the sand next to Cassie, retrieving _Don Quixote_ from his bag.

"You don't have to sit with me, you know," Cassie said, digging through her bag. "I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself. Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm an invalid."

She pulled out a portable radio and deftly manipulated the controls, skimming radio stations before settling on one she liked.

"Never said you were. I just ate, and I'd prefer to read."

"What're you reading right now?"

"_Don Quixote_."

"It was a bit dry for me."

"_Dry_? Are you kidding? It's a fantastic story!" Micah defended, waving his tattered copy at her before remembering she couldn't see. "I love _El Curioso Impertinente_, how can you not?"

"I had to listen to my dad read it, and while I love him to death, he read it like a math textbook, and it just wasn't interesting at _all_."

"You should find it on audiobook, read by a professional reader, because you're seriously missing out."

Cassie shrugged. "I like Harry Potter much better than any of the classics anyway."

"Was the audiobook any good?"

"Oh, it was fantastic. The guy who read it did all these voices for it, and it was just _brilliant_."

Cassie was pretty interesting to talk to, Micah found. She loved books on audiocassette (she explained it usually took her about 20 hours of listening to finish a normal sized book, so she chose them very carefully), loved music and concerts (because they didn't require seeing things), but she also liked to listen to action movies (as long as someone explained what was happening, even though it drove everyone else nuts).

"I could see until I was ten," she explained. "So I make Cameron tell me what people look like, and I can picture it pretty well. It's easy for me to imagine other people, but Cameron's always going to look ten in my head, 'cause that was the last way I saw him."

When the other teens returned from swimming, they found Micah and Cassie emphatically discussing the finer points of Shakespeare.

"Your geek is showing, Cass," Zade teased, unearthing a bag of chips from someone's bag.

The blind girl snorted. "Not like it matters. I'm already blind, Christian and Mom dresses me like I'm in elementary school. Me being a geek isn't going to make my situation any more horrible."

"Being Christian gets you teased?"

"Not teased; bullied," Cameron said. "Being Christian in this day and age gets a target painted on your back. We're labeled homophobic conservative backwoods rednecks who don't have a broad enough thinking range or enough education to accept evolution. Here in Brookfield, where everyone's Christian, it's not so bad. But anywhere else..."

"Names, slurs, cruel pranks. It's even worse in combination with the southern accent," Aimee added. "People got really upset with things the Catholic church did, and it gets taken out on believers."

"I had to get transferred out of my school, because I couldn't see who was hitting me," Cassie said quietly. "The teachers all ignored it because they agreed with my classmates." Micah shuddered slightly, trying to imagine the bullying at Stanton, multiplied with being unable to see who was doing it. "I'm in a special school for the blind now, but I haven't told anyone about my faith. I told one girl, and she asked me why I would believe in a God that chose to make me blind. The weird thing is, it's easier for me to believe, now that I can't see. I guess it's called 'blind faith' for a reason."

Thankfully, the conversation turned lighter after that, with Alice bringing up movies that they'd all seen (or listened to, in Cassie's case). Then Cameron asked why Micah was there, in Stanton

"No offense dude, but why are you here? S'not exactly a place people are jumping to get to. What's your story?"

Micah shrugged, sipping his coke. "Born and raised in Nevada, but there was a situation with my family, so I got packed here until things settle down. My parents just decided I'd straighten out—" _literally_ "—if I was out here. It was kinda sudden, though. So what brought _you_ all here?"

Cassie laughed. "Me and Cameron are here for the summer to visit our grandmother. We've been coming since we were kids. It's one of the few places I remember seeing, and since it doesn't change that much, Mom and Dad are okay with me wandering around, as long as Cameron's my guide."

"Zade and I have both lived here forever," Alice explained. "We go back like three generations in this town. Our moms are cousins, so we're...cousins once removed?"

"Second cousins," Zade corrected. "My mom'd be your cousin once removed."

Aimee shrugged, drawing a rune in the sand with a stick. "My mom's dead and my dad travels a lot, so I live here most of the year with my aunt. I visit him all the time, in Ohio."

The rest of the summer passed in much the same way, with everyone gathering at the river almost daily. Micah was accepted easily, which was strange in and of itself, that he'd be accepted into a group of friends who weren't hated by the general population and even stranger was the fact that everyone he'd made friends with was Christian.

Of course, no one knew he was gay, either.

Aimee vanished a few times, for six or seven days at a stretch, and no one even blinked. When she returned, it was like she'd never left. Alice's dad collected old books, and she'd loan them to Micah, as long as he was careful with them. He was. Cameron and Zade were fun to hang out with—nothing like Shane or Jude or Blaine or Erin, but still fun to talk with, to see movies and have cannonball competitions with.

It wasn't in any way perfect—he still had to attend church, Aunt Evelyn was continually trying to set him up with Alice or other girls, his cousins were loud, obnoxious and everything like the jocks he'd spent all of high school to avoid. Aunt Evelyn was always baking, for inexplicable reasons, although Micah rarely ever saw the finished products, Uncle Thomas continued to drive like a suicidal circus clown and he never heard from either his parents or Sara. And he missed Shane so much it hurt.

But he liked talking with Cassie about books, and he'd even begun to read _A Tale of Two Cities_ to her while they waited for the others to finish swimming.

He liked sitting on the beach in Gover's Grotto (he never got the full story behind the name) and he liked the town's library, which he biked to every Tuesday without fail.

He was almost sad when Cassie and Cameron left right before school began.

...

The first day of school wasn't as horrible as Micah was expecting. It was still miserable—no Shane, no Fab Five, no Cassie, either—but it wasn't like people were actively seeking to torture him.

About two weeks into the semester, Alice dragged him out to the River. It was a Tuesday evening, and so no one was there, despite the warm, summery temperature. Instead of going to Gover's Grotto, like they usually did, the pair sat on the edge of the bridge.

"I figured out why you're here," Alice said quietly.

"You're going to tell everyone to hate me now, aren't you?"

"Nothing of the sort. I have a...proposition for you."

"I'm not going to turn into a sassy gay friend."

"Wasn't gonna suggest it. Look, I'm...I'm gay, too. My parents are forever ragging on me to get a boyfriend, and I'm not interested in any of the guys and you're not interested in any of the girls, and I thought that maybe we could be fake dates. Y'know, so people don't start...guessing."

Micah didn't reply for a minute. "There's a lot you don't know. I'm not sure I'm up for dating, _especially_ fake dating, after everything that happened in Nevada."

"What did happen, then? What did you do to get sent here?"

"I fell in love."

Alice cracked a grin. "That's not so bad. Any details, or is that private?"

Micah paused, considering. "No names?"

"No names."

"I was bullied pretty heavily because people at school knew I was gay. I ended up being pretty close with my group of friends—they were like me, gay, you know. We were all just trying to get through high school, and we all managed for a year or so. There was a beautiful boy I fell in love with, and he liked me back. We got found out, though. I made a stupid mistake and we got caught, but his older brother took the fall for him and their dad flipped out. He outed me to my parents and within twelve hours, I was shipped here. I didn't get to say goodbye to any of my friends or even my little sister, Sara. Pretty much it."

Alice just continued to smile. "Sounds like it's not over yet. I'd bet money it'snot."

Micah exhaled sharply. "Nah, it's over. I'm probably not going to see either of them ever again."

"So write a letter."

"I would, but I don't know what to say."

"Ah, neither would I."

The conversation stopped there, unfinished and just hanging there, protruding uncomfortably into the silence, until Alice said, "Hey, Micah? Is the whole Nevada thing why you're so pessimistic?"

"Yeah, well, think negative and you'll never be disappointed."

"That's so depressing. Learn to live a little."

And then she pushed him off the bridge. She dove off after him.

"What was that for?" the water was cold and Micah was soaked, but he laughed, even though he should be mad.

"You were being way too serious."

"I'm _always_ serious!"

"Well, more serious than usual anyway. Besides, now you're an official Brookfieldian. You don't belong until you've jumped off the bridge."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Another update...I dunno if this is any good, but there you go! Sorry if it seems kinda...weird, I have no idea why I'm writing this. I actually don't have time to be writing, except...well, I obviously am. It's a bad habit.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Believe me, I wish I did.**

_"I can't begin to know your sorrow, I have not walked far inside your shoes."_

_..._

The next morning, when Alice picked him up for school, Micah said yes.

...

Everyone else has the expected reactions: when Alice broke the news, Zade groaned loudly and gave a triumphant Aimee a twenty dollar bill ("I freaking told you! I am _never_ wrong!") and when Alice told Cassie on the phone, her shriek was so loud that Micah heard it, fifteen feet away. Aunt Evelyn beamed and hugged him, praising God and claiming proudly she knew Micah would fall in love with a good Christian North Carolinan girl.

Micah just smiles and bears it, biting his lip and carrying bigger books for a week or two until the gossip dies down. Then, they're just Alice and Micah, just like before, except now, there's a shared secret.

He thinks that's what makes it believable.

...

He goes with Alice to Homecoming—Aunt Evelyn is absolutely thrilled. She takes dozens of pictures and coos over Alice's dress and adjusts Micah's collar about thirty times, but she doesn't actually drive them to the dance, which is a blessings, since Alice and Micah don't actually _go_ to Homecoming. Instead, they end up on the bridge with Zade and Aimee. Everyone's wearing formal attire, but no one seems to care a bit about getting their clothes dirty.

Aimee's wearing jeans underneath her dress and Zade's got an ipod and speakers. Zade and Alice are bickering over song choices while Aimee is setting up an old camp stove before the sun goes down. Micah just watches until Alice pulls him into the argument.

Zade sweetly asks Aimee to dance—or it would have been sweet if Aimee hadn't dumped a handful of rock salt on his head and suspiciously asked if he was possessed. Pouting, Zade backed off, until Aimee apologized and offered him a pity dance.

The song Alice selects is one everyone except Micah seems to know, since Aimee sings along and Zade hums quietly.

Aimee tucks into Zade's arms neatly—like she belonged there—and Micah caught Alice watching jealously. Wordlessly, Micah held his hand out for Alice and they almost danced. It was more of an awkward shuffle, but Aimee and Zade weren't exactly doing much better.

When the sun set, Alice insisted everyone sit in a circle while Zade lit the camp stove. Aimee produced cans of soda from a red and white cooler.

Micah wished Shane was there.

"So, city boy," Aimee said. "How d'ya like our Anti-Homecoming bit?"

Micah shrugged. "S'okay. I never went to Homecoming in Stanton, so I can't compare."

Alice rested her head on his shoulder and hummed a song Micah had begun to recognize—a catchy pop tune that she'd set as her ringtone. Aimee surprised everyone by singing the song, and they all sang it loudly and off key.

"Truth or dare!" Alice announced once there were done, but both Zade and Micah groaned loudly and refused to play.

"Twenty questions! Or three questions, I guess. Everyone gets three questions and whatever they ask has to be answered honestly." Aimee suggested. This time, Micah and Alice were the protesters.

In the end, they played Never Have I Ever with their sodas.

Unsurprisingly, Aimee beat them all soundly, with Alice coming in a close second. Aimee stood up and cheered, her gauzy skirt twirling over her worn jeans. "I beat city boy!" she crowed, reaching over to ruffle Micah's hair. "City boy's not so tough now, is he?"

Alice stood and propped her hands on her hips. "Don't you go teasing my boyfriend, Aimee McKleenan." The shorter girl rolled her eyes and spun out of Alice's reach.

Zade laughed at the pair of them. "Don't go falling off the bridge," he joked. "It'd be hard to explain why both of you were sopping wet."

Aimee and Alice both turned to smack him upside the head.

Micah didn't stop laughing until Alice dropped him off at the brick house he was beginning to consider home.

He still missed Shane, though.

...

He turned sixteen October fifteenth, and he had a small birthday party with Alice, Aimee and Zade, as well as Cassie and Cameron, who were in town for the weekend. The older boys ribbed Micah endlessly for being younger than both Alice and the rest of the group.

October seventeenth found Sara sitting in Aunt Evelyn's kitchen, polishing off a plate of waffles.

"Sara?" he asked incredulously. "What're you doing here?"

"Moving in," she mumbled around a mouthful of waffle. "What else would I be doing?"

Sara barely looked like the sister he remembered—her hair was chopped bluntly just below her earlobes and streaked with messy blue chunks. Her ears were double pierced and she wore solid black and combat boots, much unlike the animal print jumpers and knit sweaters he remembered her wearing.

Aunt Evelyn cast a disapproving look at the black leather jacket on the back of Sara's chair before explaining, "On your birthday, _this_ one decided it would be funny to pull a fire alarm during an all-school assembly and then refuse to leave. She got expelled, especially after she decided to spray the principal with glittery spray paint."

Sara snickered. "Oh, Principal Canfield looked like he was going to blow a fuse. 'Sides, I figured if I did something bad enough, Mom and Dad would have to do something with me. Did you know they said they didn't have a son for four months?"

Aunt Evelyn clucked her tongue, sliding a waffle onto Micah's plate. "That's no way to raise a child—any child. I'm glad you're here now, Sara, but we're going to have to do something about your clothes. Oh, I know! Esther and Leah left old clothes up in the attic!"

Sara looked horrified. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

...

"I look like an idiot," Sara grouched, folding her arms across her chest and slouching down further in her seat. "I refuse to be seen in public like this."

Alice glanced into the rearview mirror. "It's not so bad. Most kids in town dress like that."

"_I_ am not most kids. I have a _reputation_. Kids with reputations do not wear pink dresses with _teddy bears on the pockets_!"

"Or Mary-Janes," Micah added, smirking at his little sister. "Don't forget the Mary-Janes. I still can't believe Aunt Evelyn had shoes in your size."

"I am nine years old, Micah! Nine year olds don't dress like toddlers!"

"I dunno, Rose does."

"Rose?" Micah asked his 'girlfriend'.

"Aimee's little sister. She's probably going to be in the same grade as you, Sara. Maybe even in your class."

"If she dresses like this, I'm not talking to her."

"She hunts demons with Aimee in her spare time."

"...I might like her."

Once they dropped Sara off at the elementary school, Alice turned to Micah. "Oh, she's a sweetheart."

"Why does everyone use that particular term of endearment?"

"What, sweetheart?"

"Yes, sweetheart."

"Well, she really is."

Alice drove the two blocks to the high school and they split up for classes—Micah to Chemistry and Alice to French II.

...

The elementary school let out an hour before the high school did, so Sara took the bus home. No one really knew what to think about here, she could tell. Of course, it wasn't every day that a new girl showed up with messy brown-and-blue hair, wearing a pink velveteen dress and black leather jacket. Rose, the one girl she could tolerate, had tolerated her for the day and taught her some interesting stuff about demons, but seriously. Rose was the only interesting person—everyone else was goody-goody, and Sara did not get along with goody-goody people—but Rose was also always being worried about by her big brother, Ian, who actually tried to threaten Sara.

Sara had laughed and bent his finger backwards. Everyone had avoided her after that, though.

The house was empty when she arrived, but Sara didn't mind. She was used to it—after Micah's disappearance, Mom and Dad were forever working, leaving Sara to deal with the empty space Mi-mi left. But now, she had Mi-mi back, even if she had gotten taken away from her parents. And in her mind, that was their fault. If they wanted Sara, they also got Micah. He was her brother, and she wasn't going to let them take him from her.

She tiptoed up the stairs just because it felt wrong to be making noise and paused in front of Cousin Leah's door. Aunt Evelyn had assumed Sara was a girly-girl and put her in the pinkest room in the house—namely, Cousin Leah's former room. Shuddering, the nine year old passed the room and cracked open the door to Micah's room.

She curled up on his bed and fell asleep.

...

When Micah got home, Aunt Evelyn was making dinner—some kind of chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes, Sara's favorite.

"Oh, Micah!" she called as he passed the kitchen.

"Yeah, Aunt Eve?" he said, pausing in the doorway.

"Sara's not in her room, and she's not at school. I'm hoping she might have made friends—do you have any idea who?"

Micah considered this. "Alice mentioned that Sara might get along with Aimee's little sister, Rose?"

Aunt Evelyn's face darkened. "I don't want Sara spending time with that girl. She's a bad influence."

"Alright, Aunt Eve. I'll tell her."

"Go put your things upstairs. Dinner'll be ready in about an hour."

Micah trudged up the stairs to his room, but once he saw Sara asleep on his bed, he just set down his backpack and sat with his copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_ in the hall.

...

Later that night, after Sara had been woken up, fed and sent to bed in her own room, Micah sat crosslegged on his bed, doing history homework.

There was a quiet knock and Sara snuck in, dressed in some of Cousin Esther's old pajamas.

"Mi-mi?" she said quietly. "I can't sleep."

Micah grinned. "I know the feeling." Sara crept up onto the bed and tucked under his arm, curling into his side. Micah shifted to accommodate her but returned to his history textbook and notes, carefully outlining the chapter. Sara's breaths were so slow and steady, he was sure she was asleep until she spoke.

"Mi-mi?"

"Yeah, Sare?"

"What'd you do to get sent here?"

Micah froze, his pen hovering over the paper. With a sigh, he capped it. "What did Mom and Dad tell you?"

"Nothing. I just asked where you were, and they told me not to worry about it."

The elder sibling sighed. "You know how I loved Shane? Like holding hands and kissing loved?"

Sara nodded. "I liked Shay. Shay was nice."

Micah chuckled. "Yeah, well, Shane's dad wasn't so happy about it, and he threatened Mom and Dad if I ever saw Shane ever again. So I got sent here for awhile, but it's looking like I'm not going to go back."

"Are you in love with Alice?"

Micah paused, thinking it over. "I love Alice, but not the same way as I loved Shane. She's like another sister, although why I chose that is ridiculous, because I've already got you!" He bopped her nose and she giggled.

Micah never finished his history homework, not after Sara drifted to sleep on his bed for the second time that day.

...

Mom and Dad showed up for Thanksgiving, making it the most awkward holiday Micah had ever been part of. Aunt Evelyn spent the entire two days clattering around the kitchen, slamming pots around and muttering insults about her sister under her breath.

When Mom tentatively suggested that Micah and Sara return to Stanton, now that the Andersons had moved out of town, Aunt Evelyn calmly sent the Randall siblings upstairs to their rooms before exploding on her younger sister.

"YOU ABSOLUTE BITCH, HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK OF SUCH A THING?"

Micah winced, glancing at Sara. She'd put on her headphones and was clearly trying to tune of the argument downstairs.

"THOSE ARE YOUR _CHILDREN_, CARLENE JOSEPHINE WINSTON RANDALL. YOU ABANDONED BOTH OF THEM, GOD ALONE KNOWS WHY, MICAH IS BRILLIANT AND SARA'S A SWEETHEART, AND YOU JUST ABANDON BOTH OF THEM WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A PHONE CALL AND IF YOU WON'T TAKE CARE OF THEM, GOD HELP ME I WILL—NO I WILL _NOT_ STOP, THOMAS, THIS IS CARLY'S FAULT AND SHE DESERVES TO HEAR IT."

The voices quieted soon after that, but the damage was done.

Mom and Dad left twenty minutes later without Micah and Sara.

...

Christmas break was bleak and boring, with snow swirling outside. Micah and Sara were kept in constant motion by Aunt Evelyn, who had been in a foul mood since Thanksgiving. Their aunt was not happy with her younger sister, and as a result, she was considering suing for custody of her niece and nephew. The house was also crowded with all six of Aunt Evelyn's children and their spouses or significant others (eleven in total—only cousin Paul didn't have a girlfriend) and their combined five children, making time to reflect on Mom and Dad's abandonment very sparse.

Alice was invited over several times, since her single father didn't do much for Christmas. Aimee and her two little siblings were out of town, staying in Ohio with their dad, although Cassie and Cameron returned for the week she was gone.

Zade's family threw a large Christmas party that Aunt Evelyn spent two days baking for.

Cousins Benny and Jacob dragged Micah outside for a game of snow football, which quickly devolved into a snowball fight that lasted for three hours, in which Sara was the surprise victor.

Mom tried to call once, but Aunt Evelyn hung up before Mom could say more than four words.


End file.
